The biggest companies in America face the same dilemma: A truck driver shortage is squeezing profits.

Hasbro, Kellogg, Mondelez, Coke and Monster have told Wall Street in recent weeks that higher freight and shipping expenses are eating into their profit margins. Rising costs will force them to absorb the hit or raise prices.

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For these companies and hundreds of others, it's getting more expensive to move goods around the country because qualified truckers are in short supply in a tight labor market.

"There are more attractive options out there for potential truck drivers in a strong economy," said Gus Faucher, chief economist for PNC Financial. "It's difficult to find new workers to expand."

Trucking is a vital link in the supply chain. It's how Coke gets its sodas to grocery stores and how Hasbro sends toys to Amazon and Walmart distribution centers.

More than 70 percent of goods in the United States hit the highway at some point before they get to your home, according to the American Trucking Associations, an industry trade group.

Companies paid about 6 percent more for trucking in April than a year ago, the fastest growth in almost seven years, according to the Department of Labor.

Thomas Bene, chief executive of the food services company Sysco, told analysts last week that freight costs are "somewhat challenging" and "everyone is seeing that."

Tyson Foods CEO Tom Hayes said his company anticipates an additional $250 million in shipping expenses this year. The company took early steps to blunt the impact, but still expects to pass some of the costs on to consumers.

"Product prices must reflect the true cost because we cannot subsidize the increased freight," he said.

Officials with 148 companies in the S&P 500 have mentioned "freight," "shipping" or "trucking" on their earnings calls during the last four months — double the number from a year ago, financial research platform Sentieo found.

Thousands of truckers lost their jobs during the recession a decade ago, but the industry bounced back during the recovery, Faucher said. Trucking companies hired easily and gas stayed cheap, which kept costs from spiraling.

But those costs have soared since late 2016 as hiring for long-haul, 18-wheel drives has stalled. There are only around 500,000 of these drivers in the country, the industry group says. Finding new truckers is proving difficult: Overall unemployment is the lowest since 2000.

Companies either employ their own private fleets of vans and drivers or contract out. In both cases, businesses are struggling to find qualified truckers from a shrinking talent pool.

Amazon and Walmart are also disrupting shipping routes. The retailers are increasing pressure on suppliers to deliver products on time, and to new distribution centers, so they can rush them out to customers.

To avoid costly delays, companies are turning at the last minute to what's known as the spot market — higher-priced small and mid-sized carriers that can handle extra shipments.

Rising gas prices are contributing to the problem, too. Gas prices have jumped 22% over the past year to an average $2.87 a gallon.